6 months have passed....

...and Dad has had a relatively clean bill of health during this time, often going a month or two with no dr's appts... praise God! we had a wonderful Christmas together and he has been enjoying time with the grandkids and friends.

after his radiation, though, he found out that the treatment had killed a salivary gland in his mouth, causing two teeth to rot and become a bit abscess. this swelling extended into his jaw and his dentist referred him to Loma Linda Hospital in Riverside County. after 2 months of waiting [it's a teaching hospital so they are very busy] and oncoming pain, he was finally seen. he will be having those teeth removed at the end of May. it will have been almost another month and a half of waiting to have them removed.

meanwhile, this swelling has increased and is now a noticeable size [about the size of my dad's hand extending under his ear toward the back of his neck]. the Kaiser doctors are concerned, not only about the fact that he has not had those teeth pulled yet [this is surprising to them, actually], but that the swelling has increased and is causing pain, so they are running some tests. we will know more about what exactly is happening this week. please be praying with us that it is not MCC [merkel cell carcinoma]. we will keep you posted.

[as a side note, we lost our dear friend Sam to stomach cancer in March. we miss him so very much. our friend Judy had surgery to remove the tumor on her lung and is recovering well. Mike will find out more this week about how his treatment has been working for the cancer in his bladder].

radiation is finished! and please pray...

dad had his last dose of radiation yesterday... that's something to give thanks about! he is tired now, and will continue to be for awhile, but he has finished his 17 treatments.

also, several friends have discovered they have cancer over the last weeks/months and i am going to mention only first names and where the cancer was found so that you might pray with us. let's face it -- cancer sucks! but our God is bigger and more powerful than that nasty stuff. so please pray for the following folks along with us, as dad's heart is with them also:

*Mike -- kidney/bladder
*Sam -- stomach
*Judy -- lung
*Karen -- colon/liver

may God continue to bless you in this season of Thanksgiving... and we thank God for life in abundance!